DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0207
Hft#-
186
CABIA.
sea-crab, apparently enjoying the fresh clear water of the
stream.
All the governors in this district are the remnant of the
old Derebbes, whose power bnt a few years ago threatened
that of the Sultan; they were then continually at war with
one another. The sndden destruction of the Janissaries,
and since then the equally certain but more gradual exter-
mination of the independent families of the Derebbes, have
secured the quiet state of the country, and perhaps the sta-
bility of the government. At my halting-place last night, as
well as here, the Governor's palace or establishment formed
the whole village; in it the post was conducted, and in fact
there was no other house in the place. The father of the
Governor here was a Derebbe of great power and importance;
his house, which has now half of its quadrangle in ruins,
would have accommodated many hundred dependents, and
adjoining was another ruin of a large barrack. Ten ships of
war, subject to his command, then floated in the lake, and all
the country around was dependent upon him, and served him
through fear. The power of the family is now extinguished,
and I am lodged in one of the half-ruined apartments of the
palace. The Governor is very civil, but throughout this
southern part of the country I find the firman is looked
upon in quite a different light from what it is where the
Sultan's new policy is more rapidly working its way. But
some progress has been made here; for a few years ago my
lodging would have been a prison, or the hold of a lawless
brigand or pirate. All these families know that the Sultan
is watching them, and only waiting for some breach of the
law on their part, or other pretext, to deprive them entirely
of power; and this knowledge has completely cowed these
haughty chiefs.
On a small island near the shore of this lake or bay are
five or six cottages of Greeks, and a ruin of an early Chris-
tian church. The cross represented on the early Christian
::■ ■..
"
'Si
186
CABIA.
sea-crab, apparently enjoying the fresh clear water of the
stream.
All the governors in this district are the remnant of the
old Derebbes, whose power bnt a few years ago threatened
that of the Sultan; they were then continually at war with
one another. The sndden destruction of the Janissaries,
and since then the equally certain but more gradual exter-
mination of the independent families of the Derebbes, have
secured the quiet state of the country, and perhaps the sta-
bility of the government. At my halting-place last night, as
well as here, the Governor's palace or establishment formed
the whole village; in it the post was conducted, and in fact
there was no other house in the place. The father of the
Governor here was a Derebbe of great power and importance;
his house, which has now half of its quadrangle in ruins,
would have accommodated many hundred dependents, and
adjoining was another ruin of a large barrack. Ten ships of
war, subject to his command, then floated in the lake, and all
the country around was dependent upon him, and served him
through fear. The power of the family is now extinguished,
and I am lodged in one of the half-ruined apartments of the
palace. The Governor is very civil, but throughout this
southern part of the country I find the firman is looked
upon in quite a different light from what it is where the
Sultan's new policy is more rapidly working its way. But
some progress has been made here; for a few years ago my
lodging would have been a prison, or the hold of a lawless
brigand or pirate. All these families know that the Sultan
is watching them, and only waiting for some breach of the
law on their part, or other pretext, to deprive them entirely
of power; and this knowledge has completely cowed these
haughty chiefs.
On a small island near the shore of this lake or bay are
five or six cottages of Greeks, and a ruin of an early Chris-
tian church. The cross represented on the early Christian
::■ ■..
"
'Si